3-star general faces abuse claimes

[Anchor]

A current three-star general has been accused of abusing his power by assigning personal errands to his subordinates.

It has been revealed that he made them line up from early morning to apply for swimming lessons for his wife and even handle second-hand transactions on his behalf.

The Army has launched an investigation.

Reporter Moon Ye-seul has the details.

[Report]

In March of last year, an SNS conversation took place between Army Capital Corps Commander Park Jeong-taek and a staff member, referred to as A.

A reports that there are two ways to apply for swimming lessons: regular application and on-site registration.

He also reported the swimming lesson schedule.

General Park replied, "Apply."

This was a request to apply for his wife's swimming lessons.

The on-site registration was first-come, first-served, requiring people to line up from early morning.

General Park's wife directly contacted to specify the time.

[Park Jeong-taek's wife - Staff member conversation: "15:00 or 12:00 is quite awkward. So 18:00 is perfect. (Understood.) So I want 18:00!"]

This was not the only instance of inappropriate orders.

The staff member also acted as a driver for the daughter’s wedding from early morning and took care of the pets raised by the corps commander.

There were even allegations that he instructed the staff to handle the sale of second-hand items like watches and treadmills used in the official residence.

[Park Jeong-taek - Staff member conversation: "(I just met and checked the actual item, and it's as clean as new...) How much is it? Did they say anything about a discount?"]

The Military Human Rights Center stated that they received multiple reports from several staff members regarding repeated abuse of power.

[Lim Tae-hoon / Director of Military Human Rights Center: "Soldiers were mobilized for trivial tasks for the corps commander and his family, outside the scope of their military duties."]

Previously, in 2017, the controversy over former Army General Park Chan-joo's 'abuse of power over aides' led to the abolition of the aide system, and staff members are now only allowed to assist with command activities such as preparing meetings.

The military stated that they will conduct an on-site investigation of the reported content by the Army Headquarters Inspection Team to ensure an objective and fair investigation, and appropriate actions will be taken based on the investigation results.

This is KBS News, Moon Ye-seul.